ROAD LOBBYING POSSIBLE BOCA GROUPS FRET OVER WIDENING FUNDS

A delegation of local civic leaders, businessmen and possibly Boca Raton city officials may travel to Tallahasee to ask state transportation officials to put the planned widening of the Glades Road turnpike underpass back on schedule.

Fran Reich of the West Boca Community Council said plans for the proposed trip will be discussed on Thursday at a luncheon meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading the effort.

The decision to form a group to lobby state transportation officials followed the Department of Transportation's disclosure that the planned widening of the four-lane Glades Road underpass at Florida's Turnpike could be delayed because of insufficient road improvement money.

State transportation officials said the project can go ahead next year as scheduled only if the Legislature approves a $220 million bond issue for improvements to the turnpike.

Defeat of the bond issue could put the project on hold until 1989, Rich Chesser, DOT district director for planning, told county road officials earlier this month. DOT officials have agreed with local officials that the four-lane underpass will become a traffic bottleneck once connecting sections of Glades Road are widened to six lanes.

Palm Beach County, impatient with the state's widening plan for Glades Road, is using developer impact fees to widen the road to six lanes from Powerline Road to the east side of the turnpike, according to Chesser.

But Glades Road cannot be widened under the turnpike until the overpass is replaced to span six lanes, he said.

Chesser said the widening of the underpass is being delayed because the Turnpike Authority is planning other improvements for a "pay as you go" toll collection system and would not have the money until at least 1989. The $220 turnpike bond issue includes money for the Glades Road underpass.

"We're getting together a consortium of people interested in seeing this thing remains on schedule," Reich said. A date has not yet been set for the trip, which still is in the discussion stages, she said.

Reich said she's conferred with George Webb, a county traffic engineering official, and expects him to provide "a complete rundown of . . . the situation."

Reich said it would be the first time the West Boca Community Council has dispatched representives to Tallahassee to lobby on an issue affecting their area.

Richard Collen, president of the council, said, "This whole thing was pushed aside by the powers in Tallahassee.

"We are talking about joining with other possible lobbying efforts. . . . We're planning a trip to see what we can do about pushing this along," he added.

He said the expected bottleneck "would grow all out of proportion" unless the project is speeded up.

Boca Raton City Councilman Al Travasos has been lobbying state road planners to step up the project since learning that the improvements, scheduled for the 1987-88 fiscal year, have been postponed to 1989-90. He said he is aware of the meeting but did not know if city officials would participate in such a trip.

He said he is trying to procure the assistance of attorney Don Reed, the city's newly appointed legislative lobbyist.

"I just view that (underpass) as a very critical section of road," Travasos said. "It's got to be built now."